Eluned Morgan attacks Plaid Cymru over ‘missing’ and ‘undeliverable’ manifesto costings

Emily Price

Wales’ First Minister Eluned Morgan has launched an attack Plaid Cymru over “missing” and “undeliverable” manifesto costings and pledges.

Last week, Baroness Morgan became the first party leader in Wales to publish detailed costings of her own pledges, including plans to extend free school meals to secondary pupils and expand childcare provision.

It came amid wider criticism that Welsh political parties had not fully set out how they would fund their manifesto promises ahead of the May 7 vote.

With just one day to go before votes are cast, and a new poll predicting a Plaid Cymru victory, Morgan said her party had carried out its own analysis of Plaid’s policy commitments.

Welsh Labour says it identified nearly £4bn in uncosted spending commitments.

This does not include Plaid’s pledge to nationalise Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, which Morgan says could cost around £7.5bn.

The Welsh First Minister is now calling on Plaid’s leader, Rhun ap Iorwerth to “be honest” ahead of what is expected to be the most significant election since the dawn of devolution in 1999.

Morgan said: “Plaid Cymru says they have a costings document but are showing now signs of publishing it.

“And we know why – they aren’t being upfront. They have made huge spending promises that can’t be delivered.

“Welsh Labour is calling for Plaid to be honest with voters on what is being put at risk.

“It’s either a secret programme of austerity (such as a public sector pay freeze), or a financially irresponsible government that will cause chaos in people’s lives.

“One of their top candidates has even said they believe there is a ‘magic money tree’.

“The choice at this election is stability and responsibility with Welsh Labour, or the risk of Plaid Cymru or Reform governments whose sums don’t add up.”

However, Plaid Cymru argued that the costings for Welsh Labour’s own spending plans didn’t include the party’s full list of manifesto pledges.

Nation.Cymru asked if Plaid would release a detailed list of its own costings ahead of Thursday’s vote.

The party did not respond directly to the question, but instead referred to a statement issued a week earlier after Morgan published her party’s manifesto costings.

In the statement, a Plaid Cymru spokesperson said: “This is not a costings document from Labour but a political gimmick which smacks of panic and desperation.

“It is nowhere near being a full costings document. Their spreadsheet does not, for example, include the £4 billion they claim to be committing to new hospitals.

“It includes nothing on tackling NHS waiting lists, nothing to address the most glaring legacy of Labour’s failures in government.

“We have already made the costs of our key commitments public – the only plans to have been independently assessed by an eminent economist.

“In the end, the measure of success will not be what our policies cost, but what they achieve.

“Unlike Labour, we are asking the people of Wales to judge us not simply on what we spend, but on outcomes.

“There is only one choice for a credible, ambitious and compassionate government next Thursday. As the Labour First Minister said this morning – vote Plaid Cymru.”